M-size is no longer needed in newer Fuji cameras... I was referring to X-10 and X-F1, the sensor is well balanced in DR, Resolution and Noise department, making it a good alternate solution to the EXR sensor for Fujifilm.

Still the best general setting for every EXR camera in my opinion.

I agree with KimL here, not Danny_only.

The imaging-resource.com tests of the X10 show terrible highlight blow-out at L size. Much worse than competitive cameras such as the G12 or P7100. Take a look at the Dynamic Range series on their Samples page. The 100% is just awful, 200% is a bit better, and 400% is great. In this scene AutoDR has selected something in between 100 and 200% (wow). Bad decision!

These samples are L size and do not take advantage of hardware EXR, so the 400% is at ISO 400 unnecessarily. Fortunately the X10 is still very good at ISO 400. I don't know if AutoDR would work better in M size. Probably not.

Bottom line: just because Hugo says he shoots the F200EXR at DR 200% in dark inner-city conditions, it does not mean everybody should shoot all EXR cameras like that.

I agree with you. Hugo is a special case. His low contrast night shots of Hong Kong are brilliant and he was the 1st person to show how good SuperCCD sensors were in low light. But in my experience, defaulting to DR400% as a set and forget setting is the only way to go because it is much better to add missing contrast to a high DR image in PP, than it is to subtract it from a contrasty image which may have blocked shadows and or blown highlights.

If you use DR100% or 200% in light with any contrast and you remove some contrast from the image, the underexposed areas look really terrible. Its much better to start with a flatter, well exposed image and add contrast to it when needed.